What should my next Paleo project look like?

Not too long ago, PaleoHacker Adam Crafter asked what a
Paleo magazine would contain --- I am thinking along those same lines and I need your help.

I am working on a BIG project whose mission is to responsibly steward the Paleo Diet into the mainstream and will bring the best voices and personalities of the Paleosphere together in the form of a group-blog/online magazine.

Many people ask me about what diet I followed to lose wt (50 lbs then gained ~10 lbs muscle) but as soon as I mention giving up mochas, bread and rice, they back away slowly and have a glazed narcotic-withdrawal look on their face.
wtf.
No one wants to give up their daily bread.
Or fattening-rice.
Or fructose-laden cornsyrup Starbuck frapucchinos!
Forget it. Mainstream is exactly currently like the the folks in WALL*E, the movie. They want the BLUE PILL and no such thing as enlightenment (even despite cancer and/or other horrific diseases caused by modern food).

And, I think I mentioned this before on paleohacks: try to get one (or more) paleo people to do a TED-talk. Or use celebrities. Personally I would suggest Scarlett Johanssen. And maybe better, intellectual celebrities, the likes of Dawkins, Dennett, Pinker, EO Wilson, ... They are true darwinians and should that a paleodiet is utterly obvious. Maybe let them have a 30-day challange...

Exactly what I was going to say. Although I can imagine that some people would, for the benefits of the history-deniers (as Richard Dawkins likes to call them), try to convince as much people as possible to change to a paleo inspired lifestyle, whithout pushing the evolutionary message too much. Maybe first change the eating behaviours, and then the brain fog of all these history-deniers will disappear? Wouldn't that make the world a better place? ;-)

@Earl Cannonbear -- in some ways, it is worse than you state when folks who ostensibly believe in evolution (doctors, pharmacists, other healthcare providers) don't think that the Paleo Diet makes sense.

10
Answers

Would love to see a feature on raising kids paleo-style - so many of us as parents are struggling to turn the ship around, as it were, and we're mired in a culture of classroom birthday parties, nonfoods marketed to our kids, sedentary lifestyles, and so on.

Ideas for topics within this feature:

Paleo birthday parties for kids

Summertime fitness for the entire family

Paleo lunchbox ideas

Paleo holiday traditions / healthy holiday celebrations

Dealing with nonpaleo family members (such as the grandparents) on the issue of feeding your kids

Road-trippin' paleo style (yes, I realize adults could consider intermittent fasting, but imagine cooping up your small children in a car for hours on end and telling them to consider it an opportunity to fast ;-) )

Developing healthy attitudes toward food

Promotion of breastfeeding and whole foods solids for babies/toddlers, with nursing items and recipes

I would readily subscribe to a publication with this feature! All of my current magazine subscriptions (Women's Health, Parenting, American Baby, Good Housekeeping, etc.) promote sandwiches, baked goods, pastas, low-fat dairy (ergh!), 100-calorie-portioned snack foods, and other cringe-inducing menu ideas.

Whatever you do, please keep in mind what tends to happen when a good idea goes mainstream: it gets dumbed down, corrupted, commercialized, bastardized. We're already starting to see "Paleo-friendly" products and the like. Some of them are great, others not so much.

The cheapening of Paleo into a fad diet is inevitable to some extent. Endorsements from celebrities! Talk show coverage! This may even be desirable as it will increase awareness and genuinely change some people's lives for the better. Still, if we could actively stave off the bastardization as long as possible, that would be great.

Sorry, I don't have any brilliant suggestions for you regarding the specifics. Haha.

[Edit] See this article on how Reddit went from excellent to merely entertaining, for example.

It???s sad ... but inevitable because once
anything gets popular, it becomes a
trend and then people get onboard who
have no idea what made it originally
valuable. They then make it into what
is convenient for them, which since
they lack direction and live in
denial, is whatever doesn???t offend
their lifestyles.

This is already happening with CrossFit as thousands of affiliates are opening with no real idea of how to coach or program.

I remain impressed with the average level of discussion here, and I hope it stays that way for a long time.

This particular idea is less oriented towards attracting new people to paleo and more about providing something light and fun, but:

A monthly feature: "What's in my refrigerator?" You get a prominent paleo; you take a nice, big picture of his or her refrigerator; and then have him or her discuss what's in there and why. Can't you just imagine Stephan Guyenet or Richard Nikoley or Michael Eades talking about their fridges? I for one would be hooked.

Have a special edition just for those most vain creatures-teens!like teen cosmo! Do lots of appealing to vanity and highligt teen stars who are say gluten free or sugar free (r there any?) let's start young! Paleo vending machines in the schools!!!

Just don't replicate Paleo For Life, which seems likely to attract only those already aware and online (it's a good site, though). It seems to me that to go mainstream, the effort would have to have a strong offline component, as Stephan-Aegis suggests.

It's very difficult to break through to people on this subject. I know from personal experience. After I lost more than 20 pounds in a couple months, I thought people would would be all over the diet, but it flies in the face of conventional wisdom, and requires a paradigm shift. On that note, here is a powerful post by Robb Wolf.

Many people ask me about what diet I followed to lose wt (50 lbs then gained ~10 lbs muscle) but as soon as I mention giving up mochas, bread and rice, they back away slowly and have a glazed narcotic-withdrawal look on their face.
wtf.
No one wants to give up their daily bread.
Or fattening-rice.
Or fructose-laden cornsyrup Starbuck frapucchinos!
Forget it. Mainstream is exactly currently like the the folks in WALL*E, the movie. They want the BLUE PILL and no such thing as enlightenment (even despite cancer and/or other horrific diseases caused by modern food).

I like reading anthropological literature, from the scientific, academic kind to the more pop-science books. I think are great for sketching a more general framework for a paleo-lifestyle. And they are fun to read. Maybe an idea to include some of this?

Another thing that could be interesting is expanding the evolutionary view. Not only adjusting the mismatch between current en paleolithic times, but also adress some of the other aspects of evolutionary medicine.

And, I think I mentioned this before on paleohacks: try to get one (or more) paleo people to do a TED-talk. Or use celebrities. Personally I would suggest Scarlett Johanssen. And maybe better, intellectual celebrities, the likes of Dawkins, Dennett, Pinker, EO Wilson, ... They are true darwinians and should that a paleodiet is utterly obvious. Maybe let them have a 30-day challange...

@Earl Cannonbear -- in some ways, it is worse than you state when folks who ostensibly believe in evolution (doctors, pharmacists, other healthcare providers) don't think that the Paleo Diet makes sense.

Exactly what I was going to say. Although I can imagine that some people would, for the benefits of the history-deniers (as Richard Dawkins likes to call them), try to convince as much people as possible to change to a paleo inspired lifestyle, whithout pushing the evolutionary message too much. Maybe first change the eating behaviours, and then the brain fog of all these history-deniers will disappear? Wouldn't that make the world a better place? ;-)